Direct response agency TargetCom Inc., Chicago, has picked A. Patrick Buchanan, 38, as president of bang!zoom, its new San Francisco marketing services division, which will serve the needs of technology-based clients via proprietary software and various integrated marketing solutions.
Buchanan, who recently launched Foote Cone & Belding Direct’s Integrated Marketing Services Group in San Francisco told DM News that the new shop will create an environment for clients tantamount to “giving them permission to throw a brick through a glass wall.”
One of the ways he hopes to accomplish that is through the company’s
“ideation platform” known as Playground Program, which is customized to assist middle and senior management in developing initial marketing strategies that break the mold of traditional advertising thinking.
“When you take executives out of the boardroom environment, the development process can be shortened from seven weeks to three or four days,” said Buchanan. “Our Playground Program is designed to put clients in touch with their consumers, which includes the use of various online strategy sessions and ideation toys.”
According to Jay Miller, president/CEO of TargetCom, today’s market is much different and it’s imperative to establish a group especially geared to the technology industry.
Buchanan said it was time for direct marketers and technology services providers everywhere to begin thinking beyond what some of the larger agencies have been envisioning. “We have unfortunately been order takers,” he said. “Too many of us have forgotten that our business is based on actual business objectives. We’re not saying that we are replacing the general agencies, but we are trying to come up with new ways to help clients in positioning products.
“All clients want branding,” he said. “But they also want branding with results.”
